Atop a school in the heart of Liberty City, two teenage girls stare one another down. In one’s hands is a book that overflows with blood, it drips from the pages and shines with a disgusting gleam from the text. In the other’s hands are a shimmering hammer and a wicked looking dagger.

Only the wind disturbs the pair. Then! In the blink of an eye, the girl with the hammer and dagger dashes forward! With a feral grin, the girl on the other end spins her book, sending drops of her blood flying into the air. The drops coalesce into a spear that flies straight at the racing girl.

The girl with the hammer moves as if to dodge to the left, and then spins right! For a moment, it looks as though the spear of blood will miss, and then it breaks apart transforming into an explosion of ichor!

The blast catches the racing girls in the side, sending her skidding across the roof and scrambling to divest herself of the dissolving threads. A few hasty spells repair the damage and restore her modesty, sealing the breach as though it never existed. The time generated by the explosion, however, grants her enemy another chance to send a slew of blood spears her direction.

Hopping to her feet and backpedaling from the first, she narrowly avoids the first explosion. With preternatural agility, she continues to dip and weave through the field of blasts, avoiding the worst of the strikes and blocking the rest with her hammer and the dagger that rapidly transforms into a shield.

“ELDRITCH!” shouts the girl carrying the book, “TIME TO END THIS!” With this, she drops one hand to the ground and seizes one of the stones on the ground. It begins to dissolve in her hand as she chants. As it fades into nothingness, she throws the rock dust into the air where it begins to swirl into an indeterminate shape.

Reacting to the spell, Eldritch decides to barrel forward. Her shield continues to protect her as she brandishes her hammer. Now barely a double arm’s length away from the other girl, Eldritch sends her hammer swishing through the air and cutting into the rock dust. As she does, the dust loses its ability to float in the air and transforms back into ordinary material that crumples to the ground.

Smiling in triumph, however, is the girl with the book. She grins and points to the remaining dust. It moves suddenly, attaching itself to Eldritch’s arm and forcing it down to the ground where it seals into the material of the roof. Straining, the girl with the hammer cannot escape.

Preparing another set of bloody spears, her foe speaks, “time’s up Elly,” she says with a sneer. With this, she sets the spears loose! As they hammer into Eldritch the rock dust swirls back into the air, slowly settling to reveal the girl holding a shimmering wall of light, her hammer laying on the ground next to her shield.

The wall winks away and the shield transforms into a pick the girl uses to chip away the rocks, shifting them with a couple of powerful strikes that allow her to wrench free. It comes with a cost, however. Her arm no longer has the protection of a costume and the skin underneath is red and raw as though the same acid that dissolved the rocks ate away at her body.

As she stands, her counterpart hisses and raises a trembling hand as if to hurl another spell. Fortunately for Eldritch, it seems as though her foe’s earlier effort left her drained and the hand wobbles for a moment before falling limply back down to her side.

“Belladonna” she says as she collects her weapons, “it’s hammer time!” All of a sudden, her weapon comes flying at Belladonna, who has no chance to dodge. Her swift motion to defend herself amounts to nothing more than raising the book, which clashes with the hammer in the sound of a thunderclap.

Both girls go flying backwards as the magical feedback inundates the roof. A bolt of invisible lightning seems to have struck, and as Eldritch struggles to her feet, she realizes the feedback stripped every spell in the area. Her own costume, comprised of a set of enchantments, is gone leaving her exposed as Hailey Juniper Penze!

Looking about frantically, she cannot spot Belladonna. Then from the corner of the roof is a sound of desperation! Suddenly, Eldritch notices the curled fingers of someone barely hanging on to the ledge near where Belladonna stood!

Racing over, past the discarded book and dagger, Hailey stumbles towards the shaking hands. As she does, the wailing begins to take shape into words. “Please! Eldritch, save me please!” This plaintive tone carries none of the malevolent arrogance of Belladonna. Clearly the explosion of the hammer has rendered both costumes inert, for the time.

Skidding the final few feet, Hailey pops her head over the ledge and grasps on to the girl hanging off the edge. Feet kicking aimlessly into space, tears run down the sides of Bella’s face. The terror in her eyes gives way to a desperate hope on the sight of someone grabbing her wrists.

As the two girls make eye contact, Bella breaks her pleading to say in confusion and surprise, “Hailey!? When did you… please, help me!”

“I got you Bella! Just keep ahold of the ledge okay?” Hailey says, but even as she speaks Bella’s hands slip a quarter inch. Underneath her grasp, Bella’s bloody wrist leaves Hailey’s left slick and unable to keep a strong hold. Slowly the blood begins to build up between the two hands and make it more and more difficult to hold fast.

With a whimper of fear, Bella cries out, “My fingers feel numb. I’m not sure I can hold on Hailey.”

“NO. No, I’m not letting go. I’ll hold on for you!” Hailey shouts at her friend. Then she begins to collect her feet to try to push against the ledge in an effort to hoist her friend back to safety. But even as she does, Bella’s bloody hand slides off the ledge!

Now holding on with just one hand, Hailey quickly transitions her left hand to Bella’s right wrist alongside her other hand. Then she hoists her friend and begins to pull her up. Muscles burning, Hailey manages to bring Bella up the ledge enough for her to wedge an elbow across the side of the building.

Twisting her body to try to bring a foot to the edge, Bella nearly begins to slide back down until Hailey braces herself against the rocks and pulls her up in one huge motion. Now sliding herself along the side of the roof, Bella wiggles her body across the divide and rolls onto the safety of the rocks.

Panting, both girls slump to the ground and suck in greedy breaths for a minute before Bella speaks. “Hey… Hailey thanks.”

Sputtering and wheezing, Hailey answers, “Ha, well yeah, happy to help.”

Gingerly moving her bloody wrist, Bella lifts her arm surveys the damage. Then she rolls her head towards Hailey and says, “Did you see… did you see me?”

Hailey rolls her head towards Bella and replies, “Did you see me?”

The pair stares guiltily at one another, the silence stretching out between the two. Slowly a smile creeps up the sides of Bella’s face. Then she bursts into hysterical laughter that slowly turns into sobs.

Bella’s tears turn into a cough, her body going into spasms from the lack of oxygen. When she calms down, she says, “So you’re her? I was… I was hoping you weren’t.”

“Why?” Hailey asks with exhaustion and confusion evident in her voice.

“You really,” Bella pauses to take a few more breaths, “you really did let me down Hailey. I’ve been feeling so alone lately and I just, I felt like I was going to explode under the weight of all this.” Tears start to slip down Bella’s cheeks as she continues with her head hung low, “I really needed you and I want to be mad at you because I’m so… I’m so angry inside all the time and I need something or someone to be mad at. But if you’re her, if you’re Eldritch, then I can’t get angry with you so I have nobody to blame but myself.”

Dragging herself to Bella, Hailey places her arm around her friend before telling her, “Bella you’re right. I realized when I was arguing with Theo, this secret identity is going to tear me apart eventually. I don’t want you to be the first person who suffers because I have half my life in each world.”

Bella and Hailey slowly work to their feet and walk over to the wall of a nearby rooftop shed after collecting the discarded book and dagger. As they sit down, leaning against the wall with each girl holding her weapon of choice, Bella picks up the conversation again, “Hailey,” she says with a weary tone, “why didn’t you talk to me sooner? I thought you and everyone else was just using me. I worked really hard to fit in with you and your friends and it felt like I was making the same mistake all over again.”

Hailey shakes her head. “I don’t know. I’ve been distracted lately, ever since Theo almost died, and I-”

“Wait!” Bella interjects, raising her trembling hand to pause the conversation, “Theo almost died? I thought his injuries weren’t that serious?”

“He almost died. If I’d been a little weaker or a little less powerful he’d have died. I was up all night fighting off Death.” With this, Hailey stares off into space thinking about that night. Her eyes cloud over as she recalls that long vigil.

“Fighting Death? I-” Bella inhales slowly before continuing, “you know I guess I don’t need to know. But Hailey you need help, you need to talk about this Eldritch stuff with your friends.”

Looking down in guilt, Hailey’s uncomfortable tone belies her unease at the suggestion as she changes the subject. “You said it felt like you were making the same mistake again? What do you mean?”

Bella closes her eyes and wipes away the vestiges of her earlier tears before answering. “You know I tried to… well you know what happened before?” Seeing Hailey’s nod, she goes on. “I didn’t have any friends until I met Ally, Trishia, and Maggie. They were nice, they included me, and all I had to do was help them with studying and homework. But they just kept asking more and more from me, giving them answers and rewriting their papers until I was doing everything.”

Pausing to collect herself Bella shudders involuntarily before continuing her tale in a grim tone, “I didn’t realize how bad it was until a teacher caught me helping them cheat on a test. I’d never gotten a bad grade before and just like that I had my first F, and I know it’s such a small thing but for me it felt like the end of my world. When I was done with detention, they acted like nothing happened and asked me to help them cheat on the next test.”

Bella shrugs and looks away saying, “Well that was about it. I said no and they started… they started bullying me. Two months later I couldn’t take it anymore and I… I tried to… I-”

“I understand.” Hailey cuts her off, speaking quickly as she drapes an arm around Bella’s shoulders, “so when I asked for help and then didn’t notice what you were going through… I understand.”

“I think it was the book too. Hailey you have no idea, I felt so strong and angry! Each time I gave it blood I felt control and the urge to act on my inner vitriol rising. When I was Belladonna it felt like I was hardly thinking anymore, just riding a wave of energy and rage. I remember thinking I should be horrified at the idea of using acid on those girls and when I hit you with the powder a part of me wanted to scream. But those thoughts seemed unimportant and far away the whole time. Instead I was running on emotion, most of it anger.”

Comforting her friend, Hailey speaks up, “I get it Bella, but it’s over. The spell is done.”

Bitterly, Bella retorts, “No, it’s not. I did my research on the book and the spell, so long as I haven’t killed those three I’ll continue to transform into Belladonna. I’m a monster, a walking time bomb, now.” Huddling her knees to her chest, Bella blinks back tears as she begins to imagine her future.

Laughing, Hailey answers, “Well that’s not so bad! You know I’m a witch right? Sounds like you’re going to get a hands on introduction to my world. You’re gonna love Belinda, she’s like an older version of you.”

Bella looks at Hailey, “Belinda?” she asks.

Glancing down at the inert dagger, Hailey contemplates for a moment before giving her answer, “She’s my mentor. This dagger,” she says with a gesture, “is her body. She’s a spirit that knows like everything about magic.”

“Okay, cool.” Bella says giving her friend a weird look. At first, it appears she might dispute Hailey’s fanciful story, then she visibly seems to resign herself to her new reality and keeps any objections to herself. Looking over towards the shattered windows, she says to Hailey, “So what do we tell the cops? If it’s alright with you, I’d prefer not to go to jail.”

Smiling, Hailey pulls Bella closer and says, “Well if there’s one thing I have had my full focus on lately, it’s lying to cops. So let’s go find Missy’s dad and tell him all about how you and I were caught in the crossfire!”

As the two girls concoct a tall tale for the police in the building below a fuming girl on a beach rages at the indignity of having left her school at exactly the wrong time, and despairing at the knowledge that all anyone will talk about when she returns is how Eldritch saved the school!

Join us next week dear reader as Hailey consults with Belinda and the pair consider the events that plagued the school… “In the Starry Realm!”